Grace Palmer: Sitcom success and IBS

Actor Grace Palmer has hit the big-time with a role on the American sitcom Animal Control. She talks about learning her craft on Shortland Street, her social media presence, and controlling her IBS.

Grace Palmer has hit the big time, with a leading role on the Fox sitcom Animal Control. She talks to Anika about her humble beginnings and living the dream.

Watch the video version of the episode here

Her early life

"Jason is very fun. And he's kind of like an older brother father. He was with my mum from when I was two, so I don't remember a life, like, without him. And my dad's always been super present as well. And they get along and it's great."

"Mum's a lot. She's such a powerhouse. But I think her being so awesome and being that woman, there is, uh, an element of pressure to be, like, an achiever. She was really big on us being super involved at school and doing lots of extracurricular activities and doing well at school. I think because she grew up in Hornby and had a very different childhood, that she wanted us to utilise all of the opportunities that were available to us and to be grateful for them and to do well. I'm grateful to have had her as a mother, for sure, but, yeah, I wouldn't say it was like a chill childhood."

"I did a lot of weird stuff, um, one of which was talk to myself endlessly. I vividly remember being in the back of a car and I'd pretend I was dying and that I had to have this little shot of this thing to save my life. And so my parents would just be, like, living their life normally, and their kid is in the back just, like, curled up. always see me walking, just talking to myself and doing full scenes.

"My auntie was in The Sweet Adelines, which is like a singing group and they were doing this performance at the Christchurchn Town Hall. They were like, 'Do you want to do a little performance in between our show?' and I was like, 'Of course'. So I did a Kath and Kim reenactment where I played Kath AND Kim, but I was like turning and talking to myself. But I was dressed only as Kath, which was a little bit strange for people. Half the audience thought I was deranged and then half the audience was like, 'She's iconic'. It was quite weird though. When I look back on it, I don't think that's what The Sweet Adelines signed up for."

Shortland Street…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details